Matthew and Eric in India January 2010

Friday, January 29, 2010

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Eric and I are having a good time inIndia. We're staying at this organization called Avani, which is in Northern India near the Nepal border. The goal ofthat organization is to bring electricity to remote villages and teach themskills that will enable them to make money, so they install a lot of solarpanels andsolar heatersall around the area.

We've been looking at the different projects that this organization is working on, and trying to see where we can help. Yesterday it was pretty cool; we wentto this tiny little village that is only accessible by foot. We had to drive1/2 hr up this rugged jeep road then hike for 5 miles through the woods. That'sprobably the most remote place I've ever been to. We spent the night there andgot to walk around taking pictures and taking notes about how people live. Ifelt like I was in a different universe, it was like something out of NationalGeographic. People's houses are made almost completely from rock and even the roof is slate.

The people all dress in these colorful traditional clothes andthe women wear all this elaborate gold jewelry. Most older people have abouttwo or three teeth. One lady looked like she was about a hundred years old butshe was actually only about 50. Everyone stares at us when we walk by, and allthe kids in the village come out to look. I think us coming into town is themost amazing spectacle that people see in the course of the month.

Even though everyone stares they're all really nice and generous. We stopped fora little while near one house for a meeting. Gradually about 30 people showedup, mostly women and little kids. They all wanted to have their pictures takenand were amazed by cameras. We made some paper airplanes for them. Ericjuggled and they were amazed. The family looked so poor. The house was fallingdown and everyone was really thin, but everyone seemed happy. The kids were really cheerful and the dad came out and offered us something to eat. Hisfamily then prepared this extensive meal for us with all kinds of little treatsand desserts. I bet that meal was probably a few days worth of the family'sincome.

They gave us more food than they usually eat in a couple days. And theybrought out their finest silverware and cups just for us. It was just sohumbling for a family that's so poor, with so little food of their own, forthem to offer complete strangers this amazing feast. I felt bad taking food from them but they were so insistent and I think us eating the food made them happy. I can't get over how generous they were.

They have this big programthat Mom would be interested in where they teach women how to weave. They’ve got these looms that look a lot like Mom's that the women work on for about 8 hours a day. They weave stuff fromTibetansheep wool. Mom, it's cool becausethey have this little launcher for the boat to make it rocket through thethreads from one side to the other. I took some videos so you can see it inaction. It's cool because from your loom I already know a lot about how itworks and I was impressing people with my explanation. I think you would be inheaven here!

It's in a really awesome location; it's on a hillside with an awesome view ofthe Himalayas about 30 miles away. You can even see this mountain calledNandaDeviwhich is the tallest one in India. It's been perfectly clear and sunnywithout any wind every day so you can see the mountains whenever you look up.I'd really like to hike near them but it'd be about a 3 hr taxi ride becausethe roads are so rough. To get to this place here we had to take an 8hr taxifrom a train station in Kathgodam. To get to Kathgodam we had to take anovernight train fromDelhithat was very interesting. The Nepal border is onlyabout 30 miles away but it would also take too long to drive to unfortunately.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Matthew Gilbertson (G, Course 2)Ranikhent and Roorkee, India — Matthew will spend IAP working through the MIT Global Village Project to help reduce urban pollution created by two and three-wheeled motorcycles in India. Much of David's work will require investigative research and he plans to connect with the local drivers and mechanics to better understand their maintenance processes. Matthew and his team plan to reach out to local contacts for assistance with the project as well.